Front-page photo of Bahá'í "Lotus" temple in Iran newspaper provokes ban

Ban on newspaper lifted

ILNA | AP | Nov. 23, 2009

Iranian authorities have banned the country's largest-circulation newspaper for publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple, state media reported Monday.

Iran's Shiite cleric-led regime views the Baha'i religion as heretical and has banned it since the 1979 revolution. The photo also gave Iran's leaders an opportunity to silence the Hamshahri daily, which mostly reports on social issues but which has been critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Hamshahri was ordered closed by the Press Supervisory Board, a government agency run by hard-liners, for printing an advertisement containing a photo of a Baha'i temple that encourages tourists to visit the shrine, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The newspaper's director, Ali Reza Mahak, said he has received no order to close and was preparing to publish Hamshahri's Tuesday edition. But Deputy Culture Minister Mohammad Ali Ramin later confirmed to Iran's state TV that Hamshahri has been ordered closed.
The IRNA report said legal authorities would investigate the newspaper, which is run by Tehran's municipality and supports the capital's mayor, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a moderate conservative who has long been a rival of Ahmadinejad.
Iran's hard-line judiciary has shut down more than 120 pro-reform newspapers and jailed dozens of editors and writers on vague charges of insulting authorities since 2000.
The closure order was also a message to Iran's estimated 300,000 Baha'is.
Seven Baha'i leaders have been in jail since May 2008 on charges of endangering national security for allegedly proselytizing. Leaders of the minority faith, however, say they are being persecuted by Iran's government for their religious beliefs.
Earlier, from ILNA...
A week-long ban on Hamshahri newspaper was lifted after a few hours. The daily, which is affiliated with the Tehran Municipality, was due to be suspended starting today.
The Press Supervisory Board announced the ban earlier this morning, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency. The suspension order was reportedly issued because the paper ran a tourist advertisement with a photo of a Bahai sect center.

Source found here.